A female jailer ordered, without authorization, an entire cellblock of women prisoners to strip naked during a July 2010 search. She's still on the job.

Another jailer punched a seriously ill inmate as he lay in the infirmary in May 2010. The inmate died the next day, and the jailer's punishment: one day in jail.

Last year, a sergeant slugged an inmate so hard it took 14 staples to close a gash over his eye. The sergeant said the inmate raised his hands to hit him, but other jailers swore the inmate didn't. The sergeant was fired but not charged with a crime. He's fighting to return.

These incidents and dozens of others highlight how the Harris County Jail, one of the busiest in the nation, continues to experience problems similar to those cited in a 2009 U.S. Department of Justice report critical of the use of excessive force against inmates.

A Houston Chronicle review of disciplinary records indicates that from 2008 through 2010, more than 200 jail employees were disciplined for various offenses, some serious and others minor. Last year, the Sheriff's Office disciplined 88 employees working in detention, including jailers, deputies and civilians.

Their offenses included excessive use of force, having sex with inmates, mistakenly releasing dangerous prisoners including suspected drug dealers, sleeping on the job, and even leaving their post to have a 90-minute-long domino game. One jailer destroyed mail sent to prisoners, and another ruined a picture of an inmate's son by spraying it with cleaning solvent.

'Lack of discipline'

A local civil rights activist expressed outrage over jailer misconduct, calling several of the incidents a "gross misappropriation of authority."

"It strikes to the fundamental problem the jail has, and that's a lack of professionalism that's clearly being demonstrated over there,'' said Fred Cooper, with the Houston chapter of the NAACP. "The details of the complaints clearly show there's a lack of discipline, and maybe that's our fault. We get what we pay for."

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia, in a prepared statement, said his office "employs many dedicated and professional women and men. They are the rule rather than the exception."

The U.S. Justice Department cited a "flawed" use of force policy in a June 2009 report, adding that "systemic deficiencies" in policies and training for jailers exposed inmates to harm. Investigators found a significant number of instances where jailers used force inappropriately - including hog-tying prisoners or using choke holds - and claimed jail commanders did not interview prisoners or take corrective action.

Garcia said training and the internal complaint process has been improved and that unjustified use of force incidents against prisoners are isolated, adding they have declined during his three years in office.

A review of disciplinary actions in 2011 indicate seven jailers were punished for using excessive force against inmates and another for not reporting using force on a prisoner, the same as seven cases that brought disciplinary action in 2010.

The Sheriff's Office provided statistics indicating a decrease in the number of jailers assaulted by inmates, as well as a decline in use of force by jailers on prisoners and fewer fights between inmates. There were 130 assaults on jailers by inmates and 3,084 prisoners involved in fights with each other in the jail last year, Garcia said.

Man in clinic punched

"Our policies and practices on staff use of force against inmates take into account that, as the figures indicate, the usually calm and orderly jail environment nevertheless can sometimes be a dangerous place for employees and inmates," Garcia stated.

Garcia said all cases of excessive force are turned over to the district attorney to see if criminal charges are warranted.

That review took place in the death of inmate Herman Young, 68, who became ill in May 2010 and was brought to the jail's clinic.

Ex-jailer Nikolaus Laliotitis, 34, pulled Young off a stretcher onto the floor, punched him in the stomach and dragged him across the floor, according to jailers who witnessed the unprovoked attack. Young died the next day in a local hospital of natural causes, but his family insists they were never told of the assault and now wonder if it was related to his death.

"They never told us nothing about it, and I was his next of kin," said Kim Young, the inmate's niece. "All they told me was he took sick. I'm very shocked nobody ever told me."

Alan Bernstein, public affairs director with the Sheriff's Office, said families are not told of incidents that happen in jail unless they cause death.

Laliotitis resigned and was later indicted on a misdemeanor charge of official oppression. He pleaded guilty and received a one-day jail sentence and a $1,000 fine in September 2010, court records show. A jail sergeant was suspended without pay for three days for not conducting a thorough investigation of Young's attack, accepting the jailer's claim without checking with eyewitnesses.

Naked for 30 minutes

The humiliating strip search was ordered by jailer Martha L. Anderson, who became angry at the women in a 24-bed cellblock when none would admit to leaving a used sanitary napkin on the bathroom floor. During the unauthorized search, she had female inmates show her their sanitary napkins as they stood naked for 30 minutes, visible to others in the jail since the cell door was repeatedly opened, according to disciplinary records.

Anderson, who was suspended last August for 10 days, said she did not know anything about the strip search when reached for comment.

Bankhead came to a jail cellblock on Jan. 26, 2011, to talk to prisoner Vincent Mastroianni about a call his mother made to jail authorities to find out why her son was not receiving pain medication, according to the internal affairs investigation.

The sergeant claimed Mastroianni raised his hands as if to strike him, so he hit him in the face. Two jailers backed the inmate's account that he never made a move toward the sergeant.

Bankhead declined comment, and referred questions to the attorney who is appealing his firing.

"We dispute his termination," said attorney Kip Garner, with the Harris County Deputies Organization. "His actions were completely justified in the force he used. What he did was appropriate."